This story was originally published by Reasons to be Cheerful
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at [email protected] and we just might feature it here.
Rural resistance
As concerns grow over the global expansion of data centers driven by an unprecedented surge in demand for computing power, it may be worth looking to rural Maine. Here, questions about electricity prices, grid reliability and impacts on water resources “are forcing elected leaders to pump the brakes,” according to an article in The Daily Yonder shared by Executive Editor Will Doig.
In November 2025, local officials in rural Wiscasset, Maine voted to pause data center discussions in the community of around 4,000 year-round residents. Shortly after, residents in Lewiston, Maine lobbied their city council to reject a $300 million AI data center, resulting in them voting unanimously to do so. Now, according to The Daily Yonder, one idea floating around Maine’s statehouse is to impose a moratorium on data center development.
Will says:
The local pushback on data centers reminds me of rural towns getting wise to the prison industry plopping down detention centers and calling it economic growth.
Against the odds
Since October, The New York Times has been running a Lost Science series that tells the stories of scientists whose research has ended as a result of policy changes by the current U.S. administration. This series, shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas, documents everything from the work of Jane Clougherty, who studied how to protect children from pollution and heat, to the work of Joseph Yracheta, who built a server to protect Indigenous health data.
Michaela says:
I appreciate this series in the NYT about the science that is lost due to the Trump cuts — and the scientists defying the odds by saving their data
What else we’re reading
Maggie’s: Architecture That Cares — shared by Founder David Byrne from V&A Dundee
When Rent Rises, So Does Minimum Wage: A New Model in Santa Fe — shared by Executive Editor Will Doig from Shelterforce
Swift Bricks to Be Installed on All New Buildings in Scotland as MSPs Back Law — shared by Audience Engagement Editor Steven Davis from The Guardian
Want to Change Your Neighborhood? Start With a Power Walk. — shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from The New York Times
New EU Rules to Stop the Destruction of Unsold Clothes and Shoes — shared by Audience Engagement Editor Steven Davis from the European Commission
In other news…
This week, we wanted to share an email we received from Sally Butler, one of our readers:
Good morning! I read your article about The Group School, and it really pulled on my heart strings. My life was literally saved by attending Prescott College (PC) in Prescott, Arizona. That may sound overly dramatic, but it is true.
Started in the mid-’60s, PC is an experience-based liberal arts school that has tried to die several times but continually figures out a way to keep floating. It has a big outdoor education component that often turns new students on their ears and opens them to so much. I’d recommend you look into the current PC world, but also dig into its past. It’s truly a great and inspiring story, and I sure would not have had my wonderful life had it not been for discovering PC in 1973!
The post What We’re Reading: Data Centers Meet Their Match in Maine appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.
